A Rose With Out Thorns
by EruditeTimeLord
Summary: The Doctor saves Rose from going to the parallel universe. They fall in love, a surprise comes, and the ultimate sacrifice must be made...
1. Chapter 1

**A Rose With Out Thorns**

The Doctor was having second thoughts about Rose helping. 'Something could happen, and I would never see her again. I couldn't live with myself if something went wrong,' he thought. The Doctor's grip is slipping as his palms grow sweaty from holding on to the magno-grab. Nervously, he looks over at the young blonde.

She looks at him, and their eyes meet. She looks scared, and the Doctor's nervous expression doesn't help. Rose yells to him "I'm not sure I can hold on much longer!"

At that moment, the Doctor's hearts race faster than ever before. "You have to hang on! Not much longer!" he called back.

One of her hands slip. She screams, and a tear runs down her face.

"Rose!" Now the Doctor is not only fearing for his companion's life, but he is also slightly panicking. His eyes begin to water, but he blinks the tears away. He fears the worst. It almost seems inevitable. But then he gets a strike of inspiration. "Rose! Your TARDIS key! Grab it! It'll summon the TARDIS!" It's that or nothing.

Barely hanging on with one arm, Rose struggles to grab the key. She finally reaches it and the key glows in her hand. The blue box starts to materialize around her, and she is safe.

The Doctor breathes a sigh of relief, and then realizes his troubles aren't over.


	2. Chapter 2

As the last of the daleks fly in, the Doctor musters up as much strength as possible to close the hole between the universes. He then collapses on the ground.

Watching the events unfold from the safety of the TARDIS, Rose runs outside to the Time Lord. His eyes are closed and his breaths are weak. She sits down next to him and holds his head in her lap. Nothing would separate her from the Doctor. She slowly starts to cry, but these are happy tears. A tear lands on the Doctor's face.

Leaning in close to him, Rose whispers, "It's over, Doctor. You did it. I'm still here, and the daleks are gone."

"No Rose, _we_ did it," he says weakly. He opens his eyes and looks at the most important thing in the universe to him, Rose Tyler. Tears are on his face but this time, they're his. His muscles ache and his breaths are short and choppy.

Supporting the Doctor, the pair hobbles over to the TARDIS. Once inside, they both sit on the bench by the console. Rose looks over at the man who constantly saves the universe without asking for anything in return; the man who changed her life forever and who would tear the universe apart to keep her safe.

She rests her head on his shoulder and looks up at him. Gazing into the Doctor's eyes Rose whispers, "Doctor?"

"Yes Rose Tyler?"

She loved it when he called her by her whole name. Then again, what is there not to love about this man? Gathering up the courage, she says "Doctor, I love you; more than anything in the universe." Saving worlds from the daleks or cybermen was easier than telling the Doctor how she felt.

The Doctor looked at Rose. She made him better, she taught him to love again after he lost everything.

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

It certainly has been a long time since he has said that to anyone. He reaches over and puts his hand around her shoulders, running his fingers through her hair. He presses her closer and feels her warmth. Never before has he felt like this. She smiles up at him.

The pair sit there a long time without saying anything, just enjoying each others' company and warmth. With her free hand, Rose reaches over and grabs his other hand, placing it on his knee. He holds her tighter and they look each other in the eye. The Doctor then bends down and gently kisses Rose on the lips. For just one moment, the Doctor forgets that he can't spend the rest of his life with her. She'll die and he'll continue to live on forever. Guess that what happens when you're the last of the Time Lords.

After the couple pulls apart, Rose slides her hand behind the Doctor's back.

Rose is first to break the silence. "Doctor…" she whispers in her ear.

"Yes, my Rose?" His hand then slides to her waist.

"Why can't we stay like this forever? I mean, _my_ forever, not _your_ forever."

"It would break my hearts to see you grow old and die, but me, it'll seem as if I only aged ten years."

"Who cares? I don't. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Give you something to remember down the road, when you change."

"Oh, Rose." He sighs. "I'll never forget you. Not my Rose Tyler."

At this, Rose buries her head in the Doctor's shoulder. She takes one last longing look at him and then falls asleep.

Noticing that her breathing is slowing and in a regular pattern, the Doctor checks to see if she's asleep. When he sees that she is, he kisses her forehead and then carefully slides her head off her shoulder and into his lap. She stirs, but doesn't wake.

"I love you Rose. I will never leave you, cross my hearts," he whispers in her ear.

He is still holding her hand when he too falls asleep.

A few hours later, the Doctor wakes up, but Rose is gone.


	4. Chapter 4

"Rose…" he mumbles sleepily. After not getting a reply, he gets up. Stumbling over to the stairs, he calls her name again. He starts to turn around and head to the door when he gets a reply.

"Doctor! I'm in your room! At least I think it's your room…"

Puzzled as to why she is in his room, he heads that way.

When he gets to his room, Rose is laying on his bed.

"What're you doing in here? This is _my_ room." He holds his hand parallel to the floor and spins around. Rose takes a look at the light blue walls and then notices the ceiling doesn't match.

"Why is the ceiling painted like that?"

"It's supposed to look like Gallifrey."

"Oh…ok…" She decides to drop the subject there. It is evidently still a sore topic for him. "Anyway, I came in here because it is more comfortable than your lap, though only slightly." She gave him a cheeky grin. "Come on. There's room for one more."

The Doctor hesitates for only a second and then decides to take her advice. He walks over to the bed and takes his long overcoat off. He sits down then pulls off his tie and unbuttons his shirt.


	5. Chapter 5

'_Blimey Doctor' _Rose admires.

"Don't worry Rose. I'm just putting a better shirt on. I'm not going to sleep _shirtless"_ he explains, obviously not seeing Rose's excitement. She sends him a playful frown as he puts on a white t-shirt. The Doctor lays down next to his partner. He rolls over and kisses her, holding the side of her face. Rose wraps her hands around his waist. After a few moments, she slips her hands under his shirt.

One hand slips under her shirt, the other still holding her face. He kisses her harder. He pulls away, but only to kiss her neck.

"Doctor..." Rose breathes. She slips her hand just under the waistband of his pants.

He pulls away and they stare longingly into each other's eyes. The Doctor smiles, from ear to ear, and says to Rose, "Rose Tyler, will you marry me?"

Rose is shocked. The only thing she manages to say is "What?

The Doctor frowns for a second. This is not the response he expected to hear. "You know, marriage. Two people love each other and they spend eternity-_well_ in most cases eternity," he says quietly.

She lets out a squeal of excitement. The words she always wanted to hear from him, but she never thought she would. "I would be honored."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Two**_ months later, the couples love for each other continued to grow, but so had something else. Rose had a secret that belonged to her and the Doctor, but she couldn't figure out how to tell him. She decides that she must.

The Doctor is at the console, checking over the TARDIS, and charging his sonic. She walks over to him and says, "Doctor, I have something to tell you and you might want to sit down."

The couple sits on the bench where they first shared their love. Concerned the Doctor asks, "What is it, Rose?"

Rose doesn't know how to tell him. She is worried as to how he will react. _'Will he still marry me? Will he regret marrying her in the future? Will she be seen as fragile, incapable of traveling with him? And most importantly, will he still love me?'_

_ "_Well..."She tries to figure out how to word it. "Remember the night you proposed? Well, I'm pregnant." She starts sobbing, doubting herself.

His face lights up. "WHAT?! Why are you crying?! This is exciting." He throws his arms around his fiance'. He kisses her. "Is it a boy or girl?"

"I'm not sure. It's too early yet to tell. Will it be human or Time Lord?"

"We'll have to wait until it's born to tell."

As the months passed, the pair prepared for the arrival. The Doctor built a nursery in the other half of his room, and his excitement never died down. He never left Rose alone for more than 10 minutes. Rose could tell that he would be a great father, and the Doctor thought the same about Rose.

The fiance`s still traveled as usual, but to far less dangerous (and interesting) places. They saw Mozart and Beethoven in concert, went to New York (the original) during New Year's Eve 1999, and saw the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid 1932. The pair traveled as normal couples did, except through time. The Doctor insisted on not leaving Earth, in case something happened.

A month after the Doctor learned the news, they got married. The wedding was held in London on the date of June 26, 2010.

As Rose neared the end of her pregnancy, she became lethargic and sick. She was stuck in bed, her husband by her side. She passed the time by reading, watching TV, sleeping, and talking to the Doctor. But the closer it got to the end, the sicker she became.

One day, about a month before her due date, Rose was in a lot of pain and had a high fever. Fearing for his wife, the Doctor rushed them to a hospital, but he took a car. A police box randomly showing up in a hospital would cause too many questions, and Rose's condition was deteriorating. When they got to the hospital, the doctors there rushed Rose away. The Doctor tried to follow, but a group of doctors held him back.


	7. Chapter 7

"But she's my wife! I haven't left her side for nine moths, and I'm not going to leave her when she needs me most!" he yelled at a young doctor named Martha Jones.

"Sir, I'm sorry. She's in a very unstable condition." The young doctor said. "Sir, why don't you sit down? I'll sit with you if it makes any difference."

The Doctor agrees, and they walk to the waiting room. The two sat in silence, the Doctor hunched over with his face in his hands. He was uncontrollably shaking. A few minutes later, a gray-haired doctor walked into the room, and Martha went over to talk with him. When she came back, the Doctor asked her about her conversation. Martha sat down, and put her hand on his knee. He didn't know whether to be uncomfortable about this or not.

"Her body seems to be rejecting the babies. It's unusual this late of the pregnancy. We had to put her in for an emergency C-Section," she said.

He figured that Rose's body was rejecting the babies because they are at least part Time Lord. "Babies? As in plural of baby?" he said, his voice breaking.

"Yes, they are twins. Fraternal twins, in fact. A boy and a girl. Congratulations, sir"

The Doctor smiled, but only for a second, as the same gray-haired doctor came back. Martha started to get up, but the man motioned her to sit back down. "He may need you for this."


	8. Chapter 8

The Doctor collapses in his chair. He has stream of tears flowing down his face. He felt extreme amounts of grief and also guilt.

"I did this to her..." He chokes.

"What do you mean?" Martha asks.

"If we hadn't...if I hadn't...none of this would've happened. I'm her husband. I did this to her, it's my fault." he sobbed.

"You could see her one last time before she dies."

The Doctor agrees and the two walk down the hall to the room Rose is in. Martha left them in privacy.

In the room, Rose is hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor. Her stomach was bandaged and no longer swollen. The Doctor leaned down and took her head in his hands. "Rose Tyler, I love you. You were a wonderful companion and wife. And guess what? Twins! Who would've known?!" He took her hands and kissed her on the forehead. Looking over at the heart monitor, he could see her heart rate was slowing down.

A tear dripped down and landed on his slightly shaking hand. He couldn't let his last experience with Rose be like this. It was hard: both of his hearts were broken.

Without warning, his hand started glowing orange. An orange vapor was circling around her hand. He was passing regeneration energy into her.

He was giving up part of his life to save hers.


End file.
